Meat skinning machines adapted to remove skin or membrane from meat, poultry or fish products have long been in existence. These machines include an elongated sharp skinning blade which is positioned adjacent a gripping roll having a plurality of teeth thereon for pulling the meat product towards the cutting edge of the blade.
Occasionally, the operators of these machines will inadvertently allow their hands or fingers to come in contact with the gripping roll whereby their hands or fingers will be drawn into contact with the skinning blade.
While safety switches and the like have been developed to permit the operator to stop the machine, and hence stop the rotation of the gripping roll, these devices do not always function automatically, and they do not function quick enough to prevent injury to the operator.
Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a safety method and means for stopping meat skinning machines which will automatically and substantially instantaneously stop the machine when the operator's hands or fingers are in contact with the danger zone that surrounds the gripping roll and the adjacent cutting edge of the skinning blade.
A further object of this invention is to provide a safety method and means for stopping meat skinning machines which employs the use of an operator's glove made of a material capable of conducting electrical current and which is of low tensile portions thereof to be torn away from the glove body when those portions become entangled in the teeth of the gripping roll.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.